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October 3, 2013

U.S. Foundations Gave $51B in 2012

Health and education were top priorities of the largest foundations

U.S. private and community foundations’ grantmaking in 2012 reached an estimated $50.9 billion, according to the Foundation Center’s new annual research study.

The center’s Key Facts on U.S. Foundations said the 2012 estimate was up from the $49 billion contributed in 2011 by 81,777 foundations with $622 billion in assets.

“It may not be the boom years of the late 1990s or mid-2000s, but the good news is that it looks like U.S. foundations will continue to provide a stable source of support for new ideas and ongoing programs that improve lives around the world,” Steven Lawrence, the center's director of research and author of the report, said in a statement.

U.S. foundations comprise independents, generally set up by individual donors or donor families; those that run their own programs and may also make grants; corporates; and community groups that raise funds from the public.

Among the report’s key findings:

Health and education accounted for 28% and 20%, respectively, of all grant dollars given by the country's largest foundations in 2011

35% of all grant dollars awarded were specifically intended to benefit the economically disadvantaged

The median grant amount was $28,462

Program support received 55% of grant dollars, followed by general support (29%) and capital support (21%).

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made the single biggest grant in 2011: $967 million over five years to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.